Combining hip-hop, soul and funk with live instrumentation, The Roots have mixed it up all over the globe for nearly two decades. These GRAMMY Award winners were named one of the 20 greatest live acts in the world by Rolling Stone. As The Roots' keyboardist of 14-plus years, Kamal Gray brings jazz piano t

Combining hip-hop, soul and funk with live instrumentation, The Roots have mixed it up all over the globe for nearly two decades. These GRAMMY Award winners were named one of the 20 greatest live acts in the world by Rolling Stone.

As The Roots' keyboardist of 14-plus years, Kamal Gray brings jazz piano training from his youth to the forefront of hip-hop using Korg keyboards. Gray has played the M1, Trinity, TRITON, and most recently the M3. Kamal states, "The M3 has the quality that I need in a keyboard, and since I can build one of my main sounds, the Rhodes, to my liking with the M3, that's pretty cool, too. I like all the effects options, the expansions, the fact that you have a whole extra board, the RADIAS, to load into it and the idea of having pads built in."

He adds, "The KAOSS Pad function in the touch screen - now that seems like something that's going to be fun to use on stage to spice up my solos and give me some flair!" Gray is touring with The Roots in support of their recent album release, Rising Down. Go to www.theroots.com or www.myspace.com/theroots for more.